This may be the longest devotional I have done to date. I have opened a proverbial can of worms on myself this week and at the moment, I can't whittle down to fewer points, so I'm sharing them all.
Fake it til you make it has become a popular catch phrase in these times. I really didn't realize it has also become very controversial until I started doing a bit of research.
I have used the phrase myself on those days when I really would rather stay home, pull the covers up over my head and just not participate that day. I get up, plaster a smile on my face, plaster some make-up over that and away I go. Philippians 2:14 tells us to "Do all things without murmurings and disputing". I have always thrown this action into that category. After really probably over-analyzing it this week, I have come to the conclusion that calling that "faking it" is really short changing not only ourselves, but God. I'm not really "faking" anything, I am still trying to do my best in a situation where I may have odds stacked against me. And God is right there, handing me grace; grace that is to be sufficient for those days that are less than great. See, He knows we are going to have bad days, He gave us His son though, so that our very best day here on earth won't even compare to the days we have laid up for us in Heaven. And when I think about having a bad day, didn't Jesus probably have the very worst day that ever existed on earth? Being hung on a cross for something He didn't do, and for absolutely everything else that the rest of us ever did, or ever will do?
Anyway......faking also implies lying to some people. I had really never put it in that category, but if the shoe fits, well..... I think some Christians get tagged as "sugar-coated" because they always act like they don't have problems and life is perfect. I have probably been put in that category a few times more than I would like, but; the bottom line for me anyway is I like to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. I want people to see the good God is doing even when He is taking me through a rough patch. Deep down, I know He is going to bring me through the rough patch and I will be stronger and better than I was before. THEN, I will tell you all about it.
As far as society in general, another way people are using this phrase is for when they don't really know what they are doing, I had never even thought of it that ways and I feel faking knowing what you are doing really is wrong. If you don't know what you are doing, ASK!! I was 20 years old when I was tossed into a position of kitchen manager at Richard's Farm. I was given that job on Mother's Day eve. Just for the record, one of the craziest days of the year for a good restaurant is Mother's Day. That day actually went fine but things started going downhill the next week. I was brought the order book from the owner and was told to do the ordering. He handed me the book and left. I went through and wrote down what we needed according to the book. There were some things on the list that I didn't know what were but decided we surely didn't need them if I didn't know what they were.
The next Saturday evening, at 6 p.m., we ran out of the giant 3 gallon bags for our tea machines. You don't really understand how much tea a restaurant can go through until you are out. Of course, everybody was busy so sending someone to the grocery store to buy a case of tea bags presented its own fiascos. That was one of the worst working days of my life and it was all because I didn't know what I was doing and didn't think I needed to ask for help. Folks, that's not faking it. That is making a mistake. If you don't understand something, don't pretend you do. Ask and learn.
We do this with our Christian lives too and we shouldn't. If something comes up and you don't understand why God let something happen, find another Christian friend and see what their insight is. and just for the record, sometimes, Christians think wrong too. We have a tendency to see something and know immediately how we feel about it and then God steps in and tells us that maybe we need to rethink. My biggest one is seeing someone who has committed a crime and thinking, "that person will go to Hell". I had one particular incident, that I carried around for ages, taking great comfort in the fact that someone was going to Hell. Then God woke me up one day and just said, "You do know my forgiveness is perfect, right?" I was reading Psalms 130, verses 3 & 4, "If you , O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness." That was a numbing day for me. If this person asked Christ to be their Savior, and asked God to forgive them, they will be in Heaven. I also realized that day, almost 25 years ago, that sin is sin. We try to make some sins out to be worse than others-but God says sin is sin. I can't tell you how guilty I have felt over the years for wishing someone were truly in Hell. When our jobs on earth as Christians is to spread the Gospel, I have a feeling wanting someone to be in Hell is not what I am supposed to be doing.
The third major area of using faking it til you make it is when you are lacking confidence or are insecure. This sorta ties back to the first but there are some differences. Some of what I was reading this week on the subject pointed out that sometimes you have to go through the motions for a while before it feels comfortable. There were several examples of addicts and not really feeling comfortable without their addiction. This has to fall back to God's grace also. I used to smoke. I smoked for 12 years. When I quit, I very much missed the feel of a cigarette in my hand. My husband actually brought me a small lag bolt, the same size as a cigarette. I would roll it between my fingers for comfort. I would laugh at thinking of getting addicted to my bolt but after a while, I was comfortable without it. Like all the other things listed above though, I was trying, I was getting better every day and I seriously think calling it faking would be a mistake.
So after much soul-searching (and internet searching), I have decided to ban the phrase from my vocabulary. Last week a friend posted that it was a day to fake it til you make it, I replied, "Surely that isn't all bad, you are at least doing something." But I have changed my mind.
My conclusion is we should like the word, "try" til we make it. God wants us to be the best us we can be. God gives us grace, some days LOTS of it! that can cover the insecurities, the doubts, and the "I can't" in our head. I know "fake it til you make it" sounds cooler than try but that is where I'm heading. Lots of prayer, ASKING God to see me through each day, with a secure hope that no matter, how bad the day here, one day, I will have one perfect day after another.
Another friend just posted that she is tired of faking it until she makes it and she never makes it anyway. I think this perfectly describes the failure that phrase sets us up for. If we are just faking, we have no chance to grow, or get stronger.
Speaking of getting Stronger, I am sharing Mandisa's Stronger with you this week. Carry this around with you for those times that you feel like falling into that faking it until you make it trap and instead, ask God to give you grace to be Stronger.
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